RightOnline: Munro bad, media worse

LAS VEGAS — Conservative bloggers at the RightOnline conference on Saturday assailed the Daily Caller’s Neil Munro for interrupting President Barack Obama during remarks at the White House — but tempered their criticism by arguing that such tactics wouldn’t be necessary if the president regularly took questions from the press and the media asked tough ones.

“I found it embarrassing. I like the Daily Caller, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to interrupt the president during a speech,” said Jon Fleischman, who writes the FlashReport on California politics. “It diminishes the stature of the office of the president of the United States, and Obama does that well enough for himself.”

During the president’s remarks on a change in immigration policy in the Rose Garden on Friday, Munro interrupted Obama and shouted, “Why’d you favor foreigners over Americans?”

“Excuse me, sir, but it’s not time for questions,” Obama responded.

Trent Seibert, who works for TexasWatchdog.org, said, “When I first heard of this, I found it offensive. Believe me, I don’t trust any of these politicians, but you should let them have them say. That’s how it works — they get to speak, then you get to pepper them with questions.”

“Is this guy going to start a new trend for journalists to interrupt?” asked Seibert.

Munro said in a statement Friday that he thought the president had finished talking when he asked his question. “I timed the question believing the president was closing his remarks, because naturally I have no intention of interrupting the president of the United States,” he said.

While those on the right frowned on Munro’s tactic, they also lamented what they described as the passivity of the White House press corps.

“I don’t believe in being rude, but I think the media has completely failed the American people when getting them information about the president. The media has created a cushion around him,” said Melissa Clouthier, who writes at MelissaBlogs.com. “But ... do I like someone being disrespectful? No.”

“No, I don’t think that should have happened,” said Larry Hill, from Austin, Texas, who expresses his opinions using social media. “I think you should respect the office, not necessarily the man.”

At the same time that they disagreed with the way Munro acted, conservative bloggers gathered at the Venetian Hotel here said the question was legit and needed to be asked.